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Frames

The fundamental conceptual model of the Web is this: Every page corresponds to a single URL. One URL = one page. A site that is stuck in a frameset is referenced from one address, but contains many pages. This presents problems with linking to, and book marking a specific article in a frames-based page. (The ability for someone to link to your articles and bookmark them is a huge part of how traffic to your site is generated).

1. Using frames for an entire site is an improper use of a frameset page.

Framesets are a fairly ingenious and very useful method for helping someone navigate through a single, very large document, much like Adobe Acrobat’s navigation pane. However, most Web sites are a collection of documents on a particular topic (business, organization, etc…).

2. Search engines have a hard time indexing a Web site that is stuck in a frameset.

Google itself mentions that while it does crawl frameset pages, it has a difficult time knowing how to categorize documents in a frame set.

3. Some screen readers/assistive technology do not (or have a difficult time) handling frames based pages.

Those using screen readers cannot quickly scan the contents of multiple pages. All of the content is experienced in a linear fashion, one frame at a time. Frames are not inaccessible to modern screen readers, but they can be disorienting. Different screen readers handle framesets differently, with the more expensive software having better handling of frames. However, to the more common screen readers and assistive technologies, the frames are not an insurmountable obstacle, but are an unnecessary impedance. Much like having only one handicap accessible entrance to a building.

4. A site that is stuck in a frameset adds an unnecessarily high level of difficulty to maintenance.

Most users or clients won’t care about this (unless the developer charges by the hour) but it is very easy for an extensive frames-based site to get disorganized. Broken links and missed “target” attributes abound, making the behavior of the site erratic. A way to look at it is that entropy applies at a much greater rate to a frames-based site than a non-frames site. Ironically, frames are often (naively) chosen as a way to more effectively manage a site. If the site is small-scale enough to have only one developer, and the site never changes hands, this MIGHT be true. However, most often I find that when a developer inherits a frames-based page, the first thing they do is redesign it from the ground up. It is simply too difficult to ascertain what a different developer had in mind with their site model.

Further: A web site that is entirely encapsulated in frames is an unprofessional method of Web site development that was popular as a novelty in the nineties (almost a decade ago) but was quickly abandoned by pros after realizing the above four details.

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